Page 77 of Heresy

But it’s all I’m going to get for now because more people enter the room. Mason, followed by Sawyer and Gabe.

Mason and Sawyer sit on one couch while Gabe strolls over to drop his weight next to Ivy, the two of them having a quick unspoken conversation before turning their attention to me.

I look away, not interested in whatever sympathy they want to convey or other bullshit they have to say about all of this.

Tanner enters last, of course, because as the ringleader he needs to make his grand entrance. And fucking finally we can get this shitshow over with.

Leaning against a wall that faces all of us, Tanner crosses his arms over his chest and runs his dark gaze over each of our faces before making his announcement.

“Shane is a fuck up.”

I roll my eyes and volley back, “This shit wasn’t my fault. Stop dropping the entire thing on me.”

His eyes pin mine. “Were you or were you not responsible for cornering Brinley and getting the information on her father?”

“And Everly,” Jase adds.

Flipping Jase off while ignoring his bullshit problems, I stare back at Tanner.

“I was.”

Tanner nods, an evil twinkle in his eye that says he knows he’s cornering me now, and really, I should just give up.

“And did you get that information?”

By this point, everyone in the room is able to answer that question simply because a family meeting was called about it. Obviously, I didn’t get the damn information.

I don’t need to answer.

Instead, I offer my defense.

“It wasn’t my fault. How the fuck was I supposed to know Governor Callahan would get involved and send over a mercenary on steroids to pick her up?”

From where Gabe and Ivy are sitting, an audible gasp sounds.

“My dad got involved? How did he even know where to find Brinley?”

“That’s what I would like to know.”

Eyeing Ivy with suspicion since it was her father who fucked this all up, I watch as she flips one side of her white blonde hair over her shoulder and turns to Gabe.

Eyes to Gabe, I notice his look of concern back at Ivy before his mouth pulls into a knowing grin, a few seconds passing before he loses control of the laughter he’d been attempting to hide.

He doesn’t bother looking back at me, merely keeping his eyes on Ivy when he says, “It seems that your bulldog has been let off the leash again, love.”

The comment catches my full attention, my brows pulling together when Ivy answers, “Scott’s not that bad.”

“He is,” Gabe and I say in unison.

We look at each other just before Gabe stands from his seat and makes his way to his favorite place in the room.

Grabbing a crystal tumbler, he drops some ice in it, the clinking sound filling the silent room before he lifts the lid off a decanter to pour a drink over the ice. After taking a sip of that, he turns back to Tanner.

“Shane can’t be blamed for this. I’ve been up against Scott, and to say the man would have no problem ripping Shane’s dick from his body and gluing it to his forehead like a unicorn horn would be putting it mildly.”

“He’s not that bad,” Ivy insists.

“He is,” Gabe and I answer in unison again.

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